The Girl With the Star Bit Eyes
by gothicorca1895
Summary: Stars are never-ending cycles of birth...stars never die. Super Mario Galaxy.
1. Nerissa and Rosalia

**The Girl With the Star-Bit Eyes  
**_I. Nerissa and Rosalia

* * *

_Rosalina was always alone and never alone.

She learned that, without knowing it, as a very young girl. It was before her brother was even born, when she still had her mother all to herself.

It was a quiet night in the kingdom of Rosalia. The young Princess Rosalina, scrubbed and steaming from her nightly bath, was curled up in Queen Nerissa's lap in their favorite armchair of the castle library. It was a large library, in a large castle, but there were no servant or advisors there. In fact, the entire kingdom of Rosalia was composed of only three people: King Bitumin, Princess Rosalina, and the reigning monarch Queen Nerissa.

"Tell me a bedtime story, mama!" demanded Rosalina, just as she did every night.

Nerissa, a woman wise beyond her years with auburn hairs and deep blue eyes that she had passed on to her daughter, smiled. "Of course, my love. What story shall I read you tonight?"

"I don't want you to READ a story," declared the little girl. "I want you to tell me one! Tell me how you became the queen. And why the queen is the boss here, and not the kind like in my storybooks!"

Nerissa laughed, but it was a painful laugh, wound with the regrets of years gone by.

"Well, once upon a time I used to live on a distant planet. But we were attacked. I had to run away and find a new home."

"Who attacked you?"

"An alien race. The Shroobs."

Rosalina's eyes widened at this adventuresome twist.

"I took a spaceship and I landed here, on this planet. It was a beautiful place. There was food and clean water, but no people. For a long time I lived alone."

"And then Papa came?"

"Yes, your papa came and we built a castle together. Because I had discovered our kingdom, I was to be the one to rule and name it. I called it Rosalia."

"How come?"

"Rosalia was my mama's name."

Rosalina, a child raised in isolation who had never contemplated anyone's troubles but her own, was gobsmacked. "You have a mama?"

"I did. A long time ago."

"What happened to her?"

Nerissa cast her eyes towards the large window, a dome, that served as the library's ceiling. From a velvety blackness, stars and the occasional comet winked down at them.

"She became a star and now she watches over me. That way I am never alone."

"But what about when it's raining and you can't see the sky?" Rosalina asked softly.

"Then she's waiting to come out from behind a cloud and dry my tears."

Rosalina frowned. "I don't understand. Why did she become a star? How come she couldn't just stay your mama?"

Nerissa stroked her daughter's very blonde hair, smoothing the place where a crown would someday sit. "People begin as stars, my love. For a little while they can change. But then they must return to their true forms. Because, you see, stars are never-ending cycles of birth. Stars never die."

"Will YOU be a star one day, Mama?" asked Rosalina, mesmerized.

"Yes. And so will you. But before that you will take my place here – as the queen of Rosalia. And maybe you'll have a daughter of your own, and you can pass the rule to her."

"I wanna be a great queen like you!" Rosalina cried.

Nerissa chuckled. "Perhaps you will be. But that is not for a very long time. For now, you are Princess Rosalina and you are going to bed."

"Aww, Mama!"

"Well, you've had your bedtime story!"

Slowly, Nerissa rose from her chair, her long elegant blue gown forming a train behind her. She carried her protesting (but clearly sleepy) young daughter to bed, tucked her in, kissed her on the head, and said good night.

But Rosalina learned something that night – something that she'd never understand, but that would always be with her. After her mama left, but before she went to sleep, she got out of bed and padded over to the window of her tower room in a nightgown and bare feet.

And she saw stars.

There were so many of them. She tried to count them, but she could barely even see them all. Were all of those stars people? How could there even BE so many people in the universe? Until today, she'd thought that the only people were her and her mama and papa, that it had always been that way and always would be. How disconcerting it was to stand here and look out at the night sky and know she'd been wrong.

Rosalina tried to find her mama's mama's star, imagining that it would be the brightest, prettiest star in the sky. But the numbers were simply too vast. Eventually, her eyes grew tired, and the lights became blurry streaks in the black.

So she went to bed and dreamed about all those people she'd never see.


	2. The Star in the Tin Can

**The Girl With the Star-Bit Eyes**

_II. The Star in the Tin Can_

* * *

"Do you think they have green beans in space, Rosalina?"

The eight-year-old girl rolled her deep blue eyes. "Don't be dumb, Ronaldo. All they have in space are stars and planets and comets."

"Nuh-uh," her little brother protested. "They have stuff ON the planets too. Like people!"

Ronaldo had two major obsessions. The first was space, and the second was people. In fact, the two went hand in hand. He longed to leave the lonely hills and valleys of Rosalia and head to a place with exotic sights and sounds, with buildings more intriguing than the castle he'd been born and raised in, and with more people than he could even imagine. Someday, he claimed, he would find a way to get into space and seek adventure.

"If you're going to be the ruler, Rosalina, and not me, what's the point of me staying?" he often pointed out.

Rosalina couldn't understand this viewpoint in the least. She loved Rosalia, loved its wide-open expanses of grass and clear, untouched streams. She loved running and playing in the summer, sledding and skating in the winter, and having everything all to herself. She loved her family – her papa, her little brother, but most of all her mama. She'd miss everything dearly if she every left.

"What are green beans, anyway?" she asked Ronaldo as they hiked back to their favorite picnic tree.

"They're a kind of vegetable that comes out of a tin can," he explained. "Mama told me about them. They used to have them on her home planet."

"You're wacky!" declared Rosalina. "Vegetables don't come out of tin cans. They come out of the ground." She knew, because she'd spent countless hours pulling them from the dirt and muck of the castle garden. She may have been a princess, but having no servants meant that she still had to contribute her fair share of work.

Ronaldo shrugged. "I'M not the wacky one. If you don't believe me, go ask Mama."

"Oh, no. Don't you tell me that you think MAMA'S wacky." Rosalina jammed her delicate nose into the air. "She's smarter than you, Ronaldo. Smarter than me, too! So if she says that green beans come out of tin cans, I believe her."

"Whatever."

* * *

Sometimes Rosalina would be laying in bed, or playing quietly by herself, or about to pick up a book to read, when she would suddenly feel a sinking in her stomach and heart. In those brief, awful moments, she'd realize how small and insignificant she was in the universal eyes. Her status as a princess didn't MEAN anything if she had no subjects to govern. Her father gave her schooling, and her mother taught her to sing in a voice that was as clear as a crystal bell, but if she'd only see the same three people in her entire life, what was it for? Was her only purpose to live and die where no one would ever know the name of Princess Rosalina of Rosalia? Did she even have any other choice?

These moments of paranoia were not frequent, but when she and Ronaldo had finished their picnic lunch and were sprawled out on their backs, watching the clouds stir faintly in the lazy afternoon, she felt a stabbing of panic and misidentity and inexplicable fear.

"Ronaldo, what if you're wrong about the universe?" she asked abruptly. "What if there aren't any other planets or any other people? What if we're all there is?"

Ronaldo raised himself to his elbows, perplexed. "Huh? Why would you even think something like that, Rosie? After all, Mama and Papa are both from other planets!"

"Yeah, but…that was a long time ago. Everything could be gone now." A breeze crawled over her skin, and she shivered. "What if now we're all alone?"

He stuck his tongue out at her. "NOW who's the wacky one, Rosie? That's not true, and you know it."

"I guess I do." Rosalina stared into the lovely pale blue sky, the same color as her mother's regal gown, and was disturbed without knowing why. After all, it was a nice day, she was having fun with her brother, and everything was normal. Why was she having this long-lasting moment of crisis, especially when there was no crisis to be found?

After a while Ronaldo began to snore, and Rosalina felt herself drowsing, succumbing to the comforting caresses of the sun upon her face. Her eyelids drooped, and her long eyelashes tickled her cheeks.

Then a shining streak of light, as bright as a miniature sun, slashed through the sky, scattering clouds in its wake, crashing down towards the horizon…

Rosalina sat bolt upright, so quickly she felt a little dizzy. "Ronaldo! RONALDO!" she hissed.

"Huh?" mumbled her brother, rubbing his eyes.

She groaned to herself. He'd just missed the most exciting sight of his life! "I think I saw a shooting star!"

"A shooting star? In the daytime?" Ronaldo rolled over irritably. "You ARE wacky, Rosie."

"No, I'm not! It was there. I SAW it!" Rosalina insisted, but he had already dropped off again. She crossed her arms and huffed; the shooting star had definitely been real. Her books all said that if you wished on one, your wish would come true. The shooting star had passed now, but she decided to try anyway.

Rosalina closed her eyes and wished that she could help the universe.

* * *

The next day was just as warm and fresh and green as the one before it. Rosalina woke up feeling funny – sort of dizzy and fuzzy-headed and nauseous around the edges of her stomach. Ronaldo asked her to come outside and play catch with him several times, but she invariably refused, preferring instead to sit by the window of her bedroom, staring out as if expecting some revelation to strike. Finally, around midday, her mother took notice of her unusual behavior and came to see her.

Rosalina had been leaning out the window when she heard the soft scrape of the door being opened. "Darling," came Nerissa's dulcet voice, "are you all right?"

Rosalina tore her eyes from the azure sky and puffy wisps of clouds. "I'm okay, Mama," she said, and attempted a reassuring smile.

Nerissa stepped fluidly into the room and lowered herself to the bed. "Come, sit down with me," she urged gently, patting a spot on the blanket beside her.

Rosalina obliged. Side by side, she looked like a smaller, blonde version of her mother. Her dainty feet didn't even touch the floor.

"You've been shutting yourself off since breakfast," Nerissa told her. "Your brother is quite offended that you won't play with him. Have you two had a fight?"

"No," replied Rosalina. "I just feel a little funny today, that's all."

"I understand." Nerissa smiled, and Rosalina beamed. Some mothers seemed to think that chats with their daughters were something that came straight out of psychology books, but Nerissa was always considerate and genuine.

"I'll tell you what," the older woman continued. "Whenever I feel funny and I don't know why, I like to take a walk. It always helps me clear my head. Why don't you try that?"

"Okay, Mama," agreed Rosalina. "I'll try."

A few minutes later, Rosalina was striding barefoot through the hills and valleys of Rosalia. She could have worn shoes, but she liked to feel the warm grass beneath the soles of her feet. She sang as she alternated between walking and running, a lilting but somehow happy melody in a language that she didn't understand. Her mama had told her that it was about how eventually you would triumph and go from the darkness to the light, and even if you've lost everything you had before, you'll find something new to make life worth living. She didn't know why she sang this song now; she liked it, that was all, and it had suddenly come into her head, demanding to use her mouth as an outlet.

She had just finished a spring to the top of a hill, the notes still flying breathlessly from between her lips, when she saw it. Normally the view here was of a lush and fertile landscape, dotted by trees and shrubs, flowers blooming like splatters of paint among all of the grass. But today there was something new.

At the bottom of the next hill over was what looked like a large, corrugated, gray and brown rock…and smoke was rising from it in a steady stream.

Rosalina stopped singing. She stared at it for a few solid minutes before charging down for a better look.

The rock appeared to have skidded down from the opposite direction into its current resting place. A crater had formed around it, as if it had fallen from the sky.

And maybe it had. Drawing closer, Rosalina could make out that it wasn't made of stone at all, but rather rusty, scorched metal. Its shape roughly resembled a mushroom, and it was hollow, with round empty portholes leading inside. As she approached, she could feel the heat still coming off of it.

Rosalina was only eight years old, so she was more intrigued than afraid. She wondered if this was one of Ronaldo's tin cans, the ones that used to be on her mama's home planet, the ones that contained vegetables called green beans. But she didn't see any green beans inside this. In fact, it looked to be empty.

The heat prevented her from coming any closer, so Rosalina got down on her hands and knees and peered through one of the portholes.

"Hello?" she called. "Is anybody in there?"

Initially, there was no answer. But then there came a high-pitched wail, like the way Ronaldo had cried when he was a baby. A clanging, thudding noise reverberated the entire metal thing. Finally, something small, pudgy, and yellow floated out.

And Rosalina found herself looking at a living, breathing star.


	3. My Mama and Yours

_A/N - Hey, look, I have a reviewer. Thank you for your generous reviews, reviewer! Gee, you stalkers really should take a lesson from my reviewer and stop stalking this story and start letting me know what you think of it._

**The Girl With the Star-Bit Eyes  
**_III. My Mama and Yours_

* * *

Rosalina's entire perception of the universe was turning around.

Stars weren't alive. That was something that everyone knew. Stars were tiny pinpricks of light too far away to travel to, suspended in the infinity of space. They were inanimate objects. They couldn't climb into tin cans and crash land on near-deserted planets.

But THIS star was different. Instead of a spherical ball of gas, it was a traditional five-pointed shape, and its skin – or whatever was covering it – was a shade of opaque yellow. Large black eyes glittered in the center of its body…no mouth, though. It floated erratically above the metal vessel, close to her head height if she stood, but she could tell how small it truly was.

Rosalina sprang up and reached for it, and it zipped away from her, shrieking. "My mama, my mama!" it sobbed. "My mama, my mama!"

"Hang on!" she shouted. "I'm not going to hurt you!"

The star continued to babble, despite its lack of a mouth, and the fact that it only seemed to know two words. "My mama, my mama," it wailed. "My mama, my mama, my mama…"

"Hey!" called Rosalina, more gently this time. "It's okay, you. You can stop crying. Come here!"

The little star bobbed down to her and floated a few inches in front of her face. "Who are you?" it asked suspiciously. "You're not my mama."

"No, I'm not," agreed Rosalina. "But maybe I can help you find her. Where is she?"

"She's coming for me on a comet!" she star declared.

"When?"

"Soon!"

The poor thing looked so sad that Rosalina said, "I'll stay with you while you wait for her."

"Really?" The star seemed doubtful, as if no one had ever offered to help it before. "You promise?"

"PINKY promise," she assured it, wrapping her graceful little finger around one of its stubby points. It giggled slightly.

Rosalina lowered herself to the ground and crossed her legs. The star hovered beside her.

"I'm Rosalina," she told it. "What's your name?"

"I'm Luma."

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

"I'm not a boy or a girl. I'm a Luma."

Luma's voice reminded her of how Ronaldo had sounded when he was younger, so she decided to think of it as a boy.

* * *

When they had been waiting for ten or fifteen minutes, Rosalina decided that now was an apt time to start asking questions. "What's that?" was her first, as she pointed to the tin can.

"It's a spaceship," Luma replied.

"It's very rusty."

"It's old. My mama found it floating around in space. Then she put me in it and turned into a comet."

"She just left you in an old spaceship?" Rosalina couldn't imagine HER mama ever doing that. "Couldn't she have left you somewhere safe?"

"Lumas don't have somewhere safe," said Luma sadly. "My mama said that Lumas wander around space until they become other things. But she'll come back. I know she'll come back for me soon."

Rosalina realized that Luma didn't really know when his mama was coming back, and that her promise might keep her waiting for days. So she suggested cautiously, "Let's go to my house. It's a castle. My mama is really smart and she might know how to find your mama!"

Luma appeared to be optimistic about this idea, so she lead the way over the hills towards her home. No matter how fast she ran, Luma always managed to keep up with her. "You live in a castle?" he demanded at one point.

"Yeah!" agreed Rosalina. "Because I'm the princess of Rosalia. See my crown?" She gestured to the silver tiara that held back her blonde hair. Maybe it wasn't technically a full crown yet, but the important thing was that some day it would be.

Luma wasn't convinced. "What's Rosalia?"

"It's here!" She spread out her arms. "Everything you can see is Rosalia. It's my mama's kingdom, and someday it will be mine."

"Is your mama nice? My mama is."

"My mama's the nicest mama in the whole universe!" declared Rosalina. "Come on. I'll show you."

* * *

"'The Luma are star-beings with a fluctuating population that is spread throughout space,'" read Nerissa. "'They gradually evolve and, in adulthood, transform into comets, stars, or planets.'"

Rosalina sat at her mother's feet, listening attentively. When she had introduced Luma and explained what she'd found out so far, Nerissa had come immediately to the library and found a book on universal species. She was now trying to reinforce their visitor's story with fact.

"'The Luma have no known home planet,'" she continued. "'They lead an increasingly difficult lifestyle. Nomadic, with no safe place to return to in the event of injury or illness, few survive to adulthood. This has deprived the universe of much of its former splendor.'" She closed the book and sighed. "I'm afraid you're a bit of a rare specimen, Luma, dear."

"I'm just a baby," whimpered Luma, who was bobbing above her head. "I just want my mama. Can you help me find her?"

"I'm afraid I don't know how much help I can be," admitted Nerissa. "But I'll tell you what. My husband has a telescope somewhere around here. If you'd like, Rosalina could take you up to the top of the tower to search the skies for this comet."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" cried Luma.

"Rosalina?" asked Nerissa. "Will you help our guest?"

"Of course I will!" decided Rosalina. "After all, I DID promise."

* * *

Rosalina had often used King Bitumin's old telescope to go stargazing on her favorite hill. Now she was much higher, on top of the tower that housed her bedroom. She spent the night there, letting the telescope's lens carry her forward into the stars. At one point Luma began to cry, so she sang a lullaby to him until he fell asleep. Eventually, she, too, dozed off, beneath the night sky, the warm evening air snug around her.

Hours became days.

When the sun shined, Rosalina played with her brother, and now Luma as well. She received her schooling, ate meals, and spent time with her family. But as soon as darkness began to stain the sky, she was up on the roof of the tower, looking for the comet that contained Luma's mother. Each night, she would retreat to bed, defeated.

Days became weeks.

Luma never ate anything. He claimed that too much "people food" was bad for him and all he ever ate was Star Bits. Apparently he could survive for great lengths without these "Star Bits" too.

Weeks became years.

"If we stay here waiting much longer, I'll be an old lady soon," said Rosalina one night.

Growing old was a strange thought for a girl of twelve to contemplate, but spending her life waiting and expecting had made Rosalina notice the changes in herself. She was still technically a child, but now her face was beginning to reveal traces of a very adult beauty, so very like her mother's. Luma, on the other hand, hadn't seemed to age at all.

He was despondent at this announcement. "Maybe my mama's not coming," he whispered. "Maybe we should stop looking."

By now, Rosalina had placed her strong belief in the hope that Luma's mother would arrive, as well. She was unwilling to give up, but she knew it was time to try a different tactic.

"I think she's coming, Luma," said Rosalina reassuringly. "But maybe she can't find you. Maybe she doesn't know where you are."

Luma perked up slightly. "You really think so?"

"Absolutely!" exclaimed Rosalina. "In fact, I have an idea. Why don't we go look for your mama ourselves?"

"We can do that?" he responded, flabbergasted.

"Of course we can! We can fix up the old spaceship you came here in, and bring supplies, and we'll find your mama in no time!"

Luma zipped into her arms gratefully. "Oh, thank you, Rosalina!"

And so the repairs began. King Bitumin helped them fix the spaceship some, but Rosalina wanted to do most of the work herself. Luma and Ronaldo also assisted where they could. It wasn't in too bad of a state at all, and the day of departure arrived quickly. Rosalina packed tea, biscuits, and jam, delicacies she had always enjoyed as the princess of Rosalia, plus her butterfly net and her father's telescope and a stuffed bunny she'd had since she was born. She was certain they wouldn't be gone long.

After hugging her father and brother goodbye, she went to go see her mother.

Nerissa was in the library. When she heard her daughter enter, she turned to face her, smiling sadly "Do you feel, Rosalina," she asked softly, "that this is something you must do?"

"I promised Luma I'd help him," Rosalina pointed out, slightly confused.

"That's good." Nerissa nodded. "You should always keep your promises."

"Mama, you seem so sad!" Rosalina hugged her mother's waist tightly. "It's like you think I'm never coming back."

"And perhaps you won't," replied Nerissa, smoothing the young girl's hair. "One never knows these things."

"But I won't be gone for long!"

"If you say so." Nerissa reached down and removed the little tiara that Rosalina wore. Then she lifted the crown from her own head and placed it over her daughter's very blonde hair.

"Why did you do that, Mama?" asked Rosalina, her eyes traveling up to the only-slightly-too-big crown.

"Since you're going, I want you to go as the queen of Rosalia," explained Nerissa.

"But YOU'RE the queen, Mama!"

"On the outside, I am. But on the inside, you are." She smiled. "Now, go. You'd best not keep Luma waiting. I love you, Rosalina."


	4. Star Bits

_A/N - Hey, look at all the reviews! I feel so loved. Keep it up, my wonderful readers!_

_Also, don't freak out if I don't update every day. It just meanst that the current chapter is taking a little longer to be written or typed (I handwrite first) or that something in life interfered. I take off weekends too, ya know._**The Girl With the Star-Bit Eyes  
**_IV. Star Bits_

* * *

Five minutes after guiding the spaceship off of the ground and out of the atmosphere, Rosalina fell in love.

With space.

Her attraction wasn't the same as Ronaldo's. He appreciated space because it was different, exciting, exotic – SHE appreciated it because it was beautiful. Even Luma was enraptured, for though they had yet to see any comets, stars and not-so-far-off planets and cosmic swirls of color provided quite the contrast to the very terrestrial paradise of Rosalia.

"Space is so pretty," he said dreamily at one point. "Just like my mama."

Unfortunately, Rosalina had a problem. After only three days of traveling, her supplies were beginning to run out. But they hadn't seen so much as a single comet tail so far.

"If I had known we were going to be out here this long, I would have packed more jam," she said on the morning of the fourth day. Her stomach gurgled in hungry agreement.

Luma giggled. "You people sure do need a lot of food."

She frowned. "You know, I've never seen you eat anything before. You said you eat Star Bits – but how can you go for years and years without them?"

"I just can." Luma was confused. "If I don't eat Star Bits, I don't grow. My mama would give me some every few days – so I wouldn't grow too fast, she said. But she sure ate a lot before she turned into a comet."

"All you have to eat is Star Bits?" asked Rosalina. "You don't even need water?"

"Lumas don't need water," answered Luma matter-of-factly. "How come you're so curious about Star Bits, anyway?"

"Well," she explained hesitantly, "you see, I brought biscuits and jam and tea, but…I forgot to bring any water!"

Luma shrieked with laughter, and a bright blush flared in Rosalina's cheeks. She was embarrassed at her trivial error and annoyed at Luma's reaction to it.

Eventually, he settled down to giggles. "Cheer up, Rosie!" he exclaimed. "Look out your window!"

Rosalina turned to the nearest porthole…and inhaled sharply at what she saw. Beyond the flimsy glass, an endless ribbon of color streamed through space. There were so many shades of red, blue, green, and yellow that the whole thing looked like a mosaic, or a stained-glass window. And was entirely composed of rough spherical chunks, as if a rainbow had been crystallized, then smashed.

"What are they?" she whispered.

"Star Bits!" declared Luma. "They're yummy. You should try some."

"There's so many…how do we get to them?"

"That's easy! You brought your butterfly net, didn't you?"

* * *

After a few minutes of Star Bit catching, Rosalina was laughing so hard that it was impossible to stay mad. She and Luma had opened every porthole and had taken turns leaning out, clutching the butterfly net. The spaceship rocked and bucked like a roller coaster. They narrowly avoided toppling out several times, but they didn't care. It was FUN.

Eventually, they accumulated a large pile of Star Bits in one corner of the spaceship, which glowed as if tiny chinks of light were imprisoned inside. Luma immediately smacked a few up happily, but Rosalina hesitated. The Star Bits looked as hard and unwieldy as rocks.

"Come on, Rosie!" Luma picked up a small yellow Star Bit and handed it to her. "Try it! They're good."

Rosalina stared at it doubtfully for a moment, then lifted it up to her delicate mouth and took a bite.

Initially, the Star Bit was crunchy. But in another second, it dissolved like a sugar crystal. Her eyes widened. The taste was spectacular, like honey and cinnamon and…something else. A sort of power surged through her, cool and tingly, buzzing in her veins as soon as she swallowed her first bite.

Luma was staring at her expectantly.

"Give me another!" cried Rosalina.

In the end, she tried one of each color. The red ones tasted like strawberries and cream, the green ones like mint, and the blue ones were sweet and thirst-quenching. Just four was enough to satiate her hunger. Better yet, the energy and power provided to her by the Star Bits was like nothing she'd ever experienced before.

* * *

Weeks must have been going by, but Rosalina had lost track of time. She and Luma followed the stream of Star Bits and seemed to spend most of their time dodging asteroids.

Rosalina was growing faster than she would have at home, but she hadn't noticed it. She also didn't realize that she moved more lithely every day, as if she was getting lighter – but she'd lost no weight. Gradually, she was being changed, becoming more powerful, become more…star-like.

One morning (at least, she ASSUMED it was morning, since she'd just risen from sleep), after a breakfast of Star Bits (two kept her full for the day), she was scanning the sky with her father's telescope. An expanse of asteroids blocked out the beauty of the universe. Suddenly, Luma squealed. "Rosalina!" he called.

Rosalina re-directed her telescope, but she needn't have bothered; the naked eye could see the source of Luma's excitement perfectly well. It was a comet.

And they were headed straight towards it.


	5. Frozen Dreams

_A/N - Dear last chapter's reviewers:_

_I am well aware that Star Bits are supposed to taste like honey and am very familiar with the Rosalina Super Mario Galaxy storybook. I had no idea that the flavoring of Star Bits was going to be such a controversial topic and I apologize if I have twisted your view of reality. Please continue to review._

_Love, Me._

* * *

**The Girl With the Star-Bit Eyes  
**_V. Frozen Dreams_

"My mama, my mama!" Luma kept screaming. "My mama, my mama!"

"Don't get too excited, Luma," warned Rosalina. "We don't know if that's your mama yet."

"Oh, but it IS!" he cried. "I know it is! It must be!"

Rosalina could feel the excitement threatening to burst out of her heart. She tried to contain it with an old trick she had learned from her mother: when you were expecting something good to happen, and you think it might be happening, tell yourself that it isn't. That way you won't be crushed if it doesn't, and you'll be that much happier if it does. But she'd never been able to manage this, and she certainly couldn't now, not when her promise might almost be fulfilled.

She guided the spaceship to land on the comet, which was basically a large ball of ice with a long, shimmering tail. Once they were on it, they could barely feel its movement, just like how you can't feel the rotation of a planet you're standing on.

Luma zipped out of the spaceship, hovering erratically."Mama!" he called. "Mama, I'm here! Here I am, Mama – " He broke off, bobbing in the air, staring out at the surface of the comet.

It was deserted. As Rosalina swung herself out of a porthole with her newfound power and grace, all she could see was a blank white expanse, curving away in every direction. No Lumas. No people. There was only the occasional rock to break the monotony.

"Where's Mama?" whimpered Luma, heartbroken.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's here," an equally disappointed Rosalina assured him. "We just have to look around a little."

But after several hours of searching high and low, investigating every crack and crater, they had come up empty-handed.

At last Rosalina flopped down on the ground, utterly unable to take another step. Luma floated down tiredly and settled in her lap. "What do we do now, Rosie?" he asked desperately.

"I just don't understand it," she sighed. "I thought for sure this was the comet we've been looking for. It's the first one we've seen all this time!"

Luma made a tiny crying-out noise. Suddenly she realized that she had to be strong and have a back-up plan, at least for his sake.

"But you never know!" she added with a sudden false cheerfulness. "Everything happens for a reason. Maybe we're here because we're supposed to ride this comet to the one with your mama! Yes, that must be it!"

Luma perked right up, of course, and seeing his new optimism gave Rosalina a hint of cheerfulness as well. Besides, she figured, living on the comet would probably be much more comfortable than being cooped up in a tiny spaceship all day.

"There's ice here, but it's so warm," she noted. "There must be water here too." Although, truth be told, she hadn't felt thirsty since beginning her Star Bit diet.

"And we'll have enough to eat!" declared Luma. "Look!" He pointed to a clear patch of ground.

Rosalina got to her aching feet and saw what appeared to be patches of colors imprisoned beneath the ice.

"Star Bits! Pretty good, huh?" Luma beamed. "Finding Star Bits is my specialty!"

"I guess it's decided, then," she laughed. "We'll live here – for now."

* * *

Rosalina and Luma became a celestial duo, with what felt like their own private planet. If their new home was somewhat plain, it only opened their eyes to the continual beauty of the rest of space. They lost track of time, unaware of the years – decades – that now separated them from Rosalia.

Rosalina grew quickly but matured slowly, hovering on the brink of being a teenager and a young woman, becoming more beautiful than ever. She now existed solely on Star Bits, and a kind of power was growing and fermenting within her slowly. She moved lightly on her feet, as if immune to the regular laws of gravity.

Every time they passed another comet, Luma would nearly burst with happiness, only to wind up deflated and heartbroken when their search revealed nothing. He would always bounce back and regain hope, but Rosalina was growing doubtful.

She didn't think about her family much, until the fateful night when she had the dream…

One night, Rosalina had snuggled into the old spaceship with Luma and fallen asleep as normal. But then she began to dream. In her dream, she was watching her mother walk slowly into a gray mist, wearing her elegant blue grown and the crown that now rested on Rosalina's head.

"Mama?" demanded Rosalina. "Where are you going?"

Nerissa turned and offered her warm, comforting smile. "Don't fret, dearest. I'm not going anywhere."

"But you're leaving!" Rosalina insisted.

"Yes…" Nerissa crouched down, looked her not-so-young daughter in the eye, and said, "Do you remember when you were a little girl, and I told you about how people begin their lives as stars? My time as a person is coming to an end."

"You mean you're going to be a star?"

"Yes. But don't worry. I'll always be watching over you, like the sun during the daytime and the moon at night."

"But what about when it's raining and I can't see the sky?"

"Then I'll be waiting to come out from behind a cloud and dry your tears – just like my mother before me."

"But I'll miss you," whispered Rosalina.

"Perhaps. But you don't need me anymore. You have a family of your own now." Nerissa leaned forward and gently kissed her daughter's forehead. "I love you, Rosalina."

Then Rosalina woke up. It had all been a dream. Except she knew it hadn't been.

She detached herself from the sleeping Luma and stepped outside of the spaceship. The air was mild, but the icy ground stung her bare feet. The stars stretched out in endless ribbons of light, just as they always had. But she was fully aware that tonight, a new star had joined them.

Rosalina sat down and began to cry.

Luma heard her and, a few minutes later, hovered out sleepily. He observed the girl, saw her shaking shoulders and glistening cheeks, and exclaimed, "You have Star Bits in your eyes!"

"These aren't Star Bits!" Rosalina wiped an arm across her face hastily. "I'm crying because I will never see MY mama again!" She pressed her hands against her eyes and sobbed loudly.

Luma was distraught; he admired Rosalina, and had never seen her so upset before. He cuddled up to her, softly whimpering, "Mama, mama, mama…waaaaaah…"

The stars beamed down on them, their white glow both harsh and pure, watching as Rosalina gradually lost energy and cried herself to sleep.


	6. Apricot

_A/N - NOTE TO READERS: DO NOT EXPECT AN UPDATE OF THIS STORY EVERY DAY. UPDATES WILL OCCUR EVERY 1 TO 3 DAYS. THIS IS BECAUSE I AM A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT. IT IS NOT BECAUSE I DON'T THINK I'M RECIEVING ENOUGH REVIEWS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. _

_...although I'm not recieving enough reviews and you do need to keep reviewing if you want this story to get finished._

**The Girl With the Star-Bit Eyes  
**_VI. Apricot_

* * *

The turquoise comet was now their home – permanently.

For decades, and eventually centuries, they continued on their search for the comet that contained Luma's mother. But for all of the time and comets that passed them, no results came.

Whenever Luma grew despondent, Rosalina would sweep him into her arms, saying things like, "Now now, Luma, the rain clouds won't go away if you keep crying," and "I'll give you a present if you stop." They were both alone in the universe, now; they had to stick together.

Rosalina's growth had begun to slow. She passed into a maturation so that she resembled a young woman, before stopping altogether. An untapped reservoir of power had formed within her, waiting for her to become aware of its presence.

One day, after their seventy-fourth unsuccessful comet, Luma told her softly, "Rosalina, I think I made a mistake."

"What?" Rosalina grinned weakly. "Oh, no. Don't tell me that you don't think your mama's on a comet anymore! That would mean we've been looking in the wrong places."

"No, not that." Luma appeared quite serious. "We've been spending all this time looking for my mama, but I think I found her already."

"What?"

"YOU'RE my mama, Rosalina."

It took Rosalina a few seconds to wrap her mind around this announcement. She recalled something her own mother had said in a never-distant dream: "You have a family of your own now."

"I found you while I was looking for my mama," Luma continued. "But it took me a long time to figure it out. I don't think my mama's coming back, Rosalina. I don't think she's on a comet or anywhere else. She sent me to you so I would never be alone. YOU'RE my mama, Rosalina."

Rosalina was thunderstruck. It was all she could do to murmur, "Oh, Luma," and pull the small star-being close to her.

"I'll take care of you," she promised, and a spark ignited in her heart, burning away the last of the ice left by false hopes and doubt and loss.

Rosalina had a family of her own now.

* * *

Her first order of business upon adopting Luma as her child was to make the comet a more suitable permanent home.

It turned out that Star Bits weren't the only things encased beneath the ice. Deeper down there were all sorts of mysterious artifacts – tools, building materials, strange furniture. Rosalina set out to use these to make a magnificent house, not noticing how marvelously strong she had become. She planned a layout of dozens of rooms, as lavish as the castle she had once lived in. There would be a library, a ballroom, and an observation tower where she could set up her father's old telescope. She had more than enough supplies.

Luma helped her sort through the furniture, classifying it as in good condition or in need of repair. He also went treasure hunting, bringing her exotic items like a crystal candle holder, a glass wand with a star on the end, and incredibly ornate bottles of long-dried perfume. At night she would tuck him in and sing him a lullaby. Eventually, she even sacrificed her old stuffed bunny for his sake.

At last, Rosalina completed their home, and proudly brought Luma in for a tour.

"See the library? We can travel to planets and bring back books to put on the shelves," she chattered as she went. "We have plenty of kitchenware in the kitchen, so maybe we can come up with some Star Bit recipes. And of course we both get our own rooms, right next to each other!"

"It's beautiful, Mama," said Luma. "But don't you think it's, um…big?"

"Is there something wrong with it being big?"

"No…but there's only the two of us here. This place could hold a hundred people. It feels so big and empty!"

After that, Rosalina would often stop in the middle of a hall or in the corner of a room, realizing just how vast her new home really was. Luma was right: dozens of people could live here, but they had the whole place all to themselves. It made her feel a bit selfish, but more than that, it made her feel lonely.

"If only my mother, father, and brother could come and live here with us," she mused wistfully. Then she remembered her dream, and had to quickly push all thoughts of Rosalia away so that Luma wouldn't see her upset.

* * *

One morning, Rosalina and Luma were sharing a breakfast of Star Bits outside. Their comet was passing by a small apricot-colored planet. They passed places like this every day, and Rosalina wouldn't have paid any attention if Luma hadn't pointed out, "Mama, something's coming off that planet!"

She squinted and saw what appeared to be an apricot-colored speck drifting towards them, as if a chunk of the planet had broken off. "How odd! And it seems to be headed straight for us."

The speck gained speed quickly. It wasn't until it was very close that Rosalina realized that it wasn't a speck at all.

It was a Luma.

Luma, who had been bobbing up and down in the air, suddenly froze upon seeing this apricot duplicate of himself. It came close and stared. Silence was draped heavily over them.

"Hello!" whispered Rosalina excitedly. "Do you two know each other?"

Luma only stared, bug-eyed. Then he shouted:

"My mama!"

The apricot Luma parroted right back:

"My mama!"

The two began throwing the same words back and forth. "My mama!" "My mama!" "My mama!" They began an erratic dance around each other, neither slowing, neither stopping. Rosalina couldn't suppress her laughter upon witnessing this adorable scene.

Finally, Luma dipped down to her side. "MY mama!" he declared defensively.

Apricot Luma showed no sign of being defeated; he just gazed at Rosalina with wide, expressionless eyes.

And then something amazing happened.

A flood of color ascended from the surface of the apricot planet, a mottled mass of red, blue, green, yellow, orange, every shade of every color in the universe. It was a swarm of Lumas, pooling around her, all children, all orphans. They were all jabbering, and they were all saying exactly the same thing: "My mama!"

And all of them, absolutely all of them, were staring at Rosalina.

"Oh dear," she giggled, "what am I going to do with all these children?"

The crowd of Lumas stared blankly as she doubled over laughing.

* * *

Rosalina would adopt all of these Lumas, and she would name them and move each into her home individually. The house would never feel big and empty again.

As she and Luma began to discuss plans together, Apricot Luma and a red Luma approached them. "Joo have a vewwy pwitty mama," Apricot told Luma in a thick baby voice.

"You're a person, aren't you, miss?" asked the red Luma.

"You don't need to call me 'miss,'" responded Rosalina. "I'm your mama now. And yes, I am a person. Why?"

"Well, Mama," Red Luma continued, "if you're a person, how come you can float?"

"Float?"

"Look at your feet!"

Rosalina's gaze dropped, and for the first time, she noticed that her feet were hovering a few inches above the ground. She gasped, and her surprise seemed to carry her higher.

"She eats Star Bits," Luma explained matter-of-factly.

"Oh!" exclaimed Red Luma.

"What do Star Bits have to do with anything?" demanded Rosalina.

"Well, when people eat Star Bits, they sometimes get powers," said Red Luma. "Things Lumas can do, like float and live for a long time. And magic!"

"I don't have any magic!"

"If you're a Luma mama, you must be magic!"

A titter of laughter passed through the mass of children, and Rosalina grinned sheepishly, suddenly aware of how far she really was from the ground.


	7. Under the Maple Tree

**The Girl With the Star-Bit Eyes  
**_VII. Under the Maple Tree_

* * *

Luma never looked for his "true" mama again. As far as he was concerned, Rosalina WAS his true mama. And how he had a lot of brothers and sisters to factor into the equation. For the first time in his life, he had a real family.

But Rosalina couldn't help herself. She still felt…unfulfilled, somehow. She had plenty of children to occupy her time during the day, but at night, when she couldn't sleep, she always took her father's old telescope and searched for the comet that she knew would never come.

One day, she was playing outside with the Lumas when a streak of azure cut through the sky in front of them. Most gasped, and a few of the younger ones began to cry. Rosalina comforted them, while in her mind a mental tally ticked off to the grand old three-digit number: one hundred. That had been her one hundredth comet. If it had been that long, then there was nothing left for her to be waiting for.

The frightened babies recovered and scampered off to play, and a few others replaced them, chattering excitedly to Rosalina about the comet. "It sure was blue, Mama!" squealed a pink Luma.

"Yes," she agreed laughingly, "it sure was." Then a thought occurred to her, and she wondered aloud, "I wonder if my home planet is still as blue as it was."

"Your home planet?" someone repeated.

"Luma's always telling us about it!" Pinkie exclaimed. "He says it was so pretty. Could you show it to us?"

"Show it to you?" Rosalina smiled wistfully. "I wish I could. But it's millions and millions of miles from here."

"Can't you just use your magic glasses?" piped up another Luma, who she'd named Orange Cream.

"Magic glasses…? Oh, you mean my telescope!"

"Yeah!" Orange Cream, Pinkie, and dozens of other children swarmed around her, all of them begging, "Show us, Mama!"

Rosalina was unable to keep herself from laughing. She held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Does everybody want to see my home planet?"

"YES!"

"Then wait here and be good while I go get the telescope."

* * *

They were too much of a crowd to all fit into the observation tower, so she simply brought the telescope outside and assembled the Lumas behind her. Then she angled the lense up to the sky, in the direction that her new home had come from. She twisted her hands, tightening the focus, zooming in as far as she could. Eventually, a small bluish dot appeared, swimming in the vast emptiness of space.

"Do you see it?" someone asked.

"I…I think I might…" Rosalina strained closer. The blue dot became mottled with patches of green, brown, and white. Finally, a grassy hillside presented itself to her. Flowers were splashed across the lush green expanse like splatters of colored paint, and a lone maple tree towered over the entire landscape, providing cozy-looking shade.

"I know this place," murmured Rosalina, temporarily forgetting about her children.

Behind the hill was a purple-gray smear, and she knew that place, too. It was the castle where she'd once lived and grown. She longed to see it closer, but the telescope was already pushed to its limits, so she examined the hillside instead.

"I used to have picnics on that hill," she realized, recalling all the bright and windy days when she and her mother would hike there from the castle, a basket of lunch in tow, their hair flying out around them like so many flailing snakes.

But that wasn't the only memory that rediscovering this hill unlatched. She remembered that when it snowed, she and her brother would take turns dragging the sled their father had built for them by hand, waddling awkwardly in their numerous layers of warm clothing. She could practically make out Ronaldo's sweet baby face, rosy in the cold, stretched out into an expression of utter glee as they rocketed down the slope together.

Rosalina remembered her father, his strong arms and broad chest, the way he would lift her up on his shoulders whenever she asked. He used to bring her to the hill that way on clear nights, handing her the telescope that she was clutching now, guiding her hands and pointing out the planets and cosmic swirls.

Her family had loved this hill. Surely they would have continued to come here even after she'd left. So why was it empty today, as she gazed down on it from afar? The weather was perfect. Why was it deserted?

Then she saw a strange bump – a mound of some sort – under the maple tree.

And she saw, and she remembered, and she remembered everything…

And…

"I want to go home! I want to go home right now!"

Rosalina collapsed to her knees. The telescope fell from her hands and hit the ground hard; its lenses shattered and cracked beyond repair, and its metal casing became dented and scratched upon impact, pushing and warping it out of shape. A physical ripple of uneasiness passed among the bobbing Lumas, as if they were a patch of calm water that her anguish had been hurled into.

She was hunched over, sobbing openly. "I want to go home right now!" she wailed. "I want my mother!"

Luma darted through his brothers and sisters like a nervous water bug, hurrying towards her. "Mama, don't cry!" he pleaded. "Please don't cry. Everyone gets sad when you cry."

"I want my mother!" Rosalina repeated desperately. "Buh-buh-but she's not there. I knew all along that she wasn't there because…because…_she's sleeping under the maple tree_!"

With that, she dissolved into tears, and her cries echoed and refracted off of the stars, until the whole universe reverberated with the mournful sound.

* * *

Luma, who was becoming quite mature, did a decent job of tending to the other children during his mother's state of emotional inability; he made sure that Star Bits were distributed and bedtimes observed. The house's usual playful rowdiness was absent, however. Rosalina's breakdown had disturbed them.

Rosalina cried for a long time, finally coming to her senses and noticing that she was alone. She dragged herself to her room, selfishly lost in her own world of misery. She dozed off, then woke up and cried again, the just laid down quietly for a while. She did not eat.

Late in the evening, Luma came to see her, bringing along a silver tray of Star Bits. "I took care of everything for you, Mama," he told her hopefully.

"Thank you, Luma." Rosalina sat up, feeling stiff and fuzzy-headed."You're such a good boy. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Without US." Luma set down his tray and snuggled up to her. "Everyone here loves you, Mama."

"And I love everyone here," agreed Rosalina, stroking the head of her oldest and dearest friend. "Now, you've been busy, haven't you? You should get to bed."

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight?"

Rosalina chuckled hoarsely, even though it hurt to do so.

"Yes," she said. "I'd like that very much."


End file.
